


Day 011

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [11]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Gen, The Hanged Man - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:55:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22212934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 4





	Day 011

Varric walked the streets of the lowtown market. Observing the shoppers and shopkeepers with equil disinterest. The streets were packed with people maneuvering around the piles of debris that had yet to be cleared. Normally the viscount’s office would have hired laborers to cart the garbage that no one wanted away to some trash heap outside of the city. With no viscount no one was around to authorize the payments. In an emergency the city guard might have done the work but they were busy trying to stop everyone from killing each other. The templars could have done the work but Maker forbid they do anything so demeaning as manual labor.

Hightown has already been cleared, each noble having hired a personal labor force to clean up the area around their personal estate or business, but no one in lowtown had the coin for that.

The crowds clogged the streets as everyone tried to go about their business in streets that were a quarter as wide as normal. It took Varric almost half an hour to get from the stairs down from hightown to the hanged man. Varric ordered a drink and sat at his reserved table where Jenny was waiting for him.

“Well, this is a giant pain in my ass,” He grumbled. “I don’t suppose your friends can do anything about all this mess?”

“This is a big job,” Jenny said. “I’ll need a lot of friends to help out. We will need a big favor in return.”

“I figured as much,” Varric grumbled. “How much is this going to cost me?”

“Maybe a lot, maybe nothing,” Jenny replied with a playful smirk. “I’m not the only one with friends after all. There are a lot of boats sitting in the harbor right now that have perishable foodstuffs they can’t offload without official permission. Soon food prices will inflate and we’ll have food riots from darktown to hightown.”

“Well we can’t have that,” Varric said, signalling Norah for another round of drinks. “Who do I need to bribe to get this done?”

“With captain of the port authority dead the only one who can authorize the ships is the captain of the guards.”

“That I can do,” Varric said, tossing a coin to Norah.

“And Varric,” Jenny said, “It would be best if the guards didn’t search through the food crated too thoroughly.”

***

“What’s your angle dwarf?” Aveline asked, narrowing her eyes at the docking papers. “These look like merchant ships carrying food, so I know that’s one thing they most certainly aren't.”

“Normally you would be absolutely right,” Varric said. “But right now I want the same thing you do.” This was normally the time where Varric would offer a bribe or a favor but with Aveline that would be the worst thing he could do. He needed to convince her of his sincerity.

“Oh really? And what might that be.”

“For the city to return to normal. It took me half an hour to get from hightown to the Hanged Man today. Someone needs to clear all the fallen buildings out of the streets.”

“And what does that have to do with boats?”

“I need workers to clear the rubble, those workers need to eat. We are short on arable land inside the white walls of our fair city. I know it sounds like I’m trying to smuggle something into the city but I promise you I’m not.” Technically that was true. True lies were the easiest to sell. Now came the bluff. “Search the boats if you like but all you’ll find is food… and maybe the odd stowaway.”

“You know I can’t spare the manpower.” Aveline put her head in her hands and heaved a tremendous sigh. “So help me dwarf if you’re lying to me...” She conveyed the rest of her threat with a stern glare. Varric said nothing and the Captain took her seal and stamped her authorization on all the paperwork.

Varric scooped up his prize and left the office. This was a small victory but enough of these and Kirkwall would be right as rain before long. Then he could go back to being the regular scoundrel he preferred to be. Hawke made for a much more heroic protagonist anyway.


End file.
